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watch out, the pronunciation is wrong here: it should be càmbiano, not cambiàno. 95% of the time the third plural form is sdrucciola (that is, the accent is on the third last syllable). Notable exceptions are the verb to be (sono, they are), to have (hanno, they have) and then 5-syllabled verbs such as verificare (they verify is verìficano, not verifìcano) where it is on the 4th-last.

Happy to have helped. Actually I read my comment and realised I've made a couple typoes (sdrucciola is on the third last and exceptions are 5-syllabled verbs). Just saying cause I'd hate to have given you wrong information ;)

And how am I supposed to know that? If I was Italian I wouldn't be trying to learn Italian on DL. I still maintain 'weather' is not incorrect, after all, things do change with the weather. But I thank you for your prompt reply.

I originally thought "time" but as it was col - with the - I decided 'weather' made better sense. Apparently NOT. I am struggling with words like tempo which mean several things. I have got 'nipote' sorted out now thanks to the forums, but HOW does one know what is being referred to. Guesswork? I often wonder if the Italians actually KNOW or assume? Help!

Hi, I'm Italian. The problem is this phrase is out of the context, so it's possible that there are different interpretations. However "certe cose cambiano col tempo" is a rather recurring and is related to the phrase more explicit: "certe cose cambiano col (passare) del tempo" (certain things change with passage of time). Clearly I can't exlude that it could mean things change with climate change, but you should understand it from the specific context!

Oh I get it! I didn't know. I think it makes sense for English weather that frequently changes. Clearly the meaning is different. When Italian people say this phrase, it's about "time". Many thanks for your information! :)

Agreed, but I wish DL would be consistent about whether we are supposed to translate literally or make the sentence sound right in English. I have lost a heart a number of times for changing things around (or leaving words out) so the sentence sounds better in English rather than providing a word for word translation. This time I lost one for being too literal.

In case you were interested I just wanted to let you know that in "vocative" (so to speak, i.e. when you're calling someone like "my friend", "dude" etc.) you can never ever use any articles (neither definite il/lo/la nor indefinite un/uno/una) and in most cases the possessive adjective "mio/mia/mie/miei" goes after the word.

I'm a native speaker and your teacher is right: when you have to write something in Italian, don't use the "col/colla" form, because it's really archaic to see - even if it is still used something. When you have to speak in Italian, you could hear "col" and "con il" with the same frequency, because "col" is quicker to say, but you should really use more the "con il/la" form.